Soledad Brothers were an American garage rock trio from Maumee, Ohio. Taking strong influence from blues rock, the band consisted of Ben Swank on drums, Johnny Walker on guitar and vocals, and Oliver Henry (formerly of The Greenhornes and who was recruited just before the release of their second album) on sax and guitar. The band produced four albums: Soledad Brothers (2000), Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move (2002), Voice of Treason (2003), and The Hardest Walk (2006). (More from Wikipedia)
Along with the second album, Big Red and Barbacoa by past UARB Hacienda, I got a copy of his debut CD, Brian Olive in a surprise package of 3 albums that Suzy Shaw sent me in one of my Bomp! mailorder orders. Brian Olive was previously in two rock bands having long Wikipedia articles, the Greenhornes and Soledad Brothers, though there is no article on him individually.
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While he was still in high school in Ohio, Brian Olive was the guitarist in a band called Us and Them that released a four-track tape. The garage rock band called the Greenhornes that included some members of Us and Them was formed in Cincinnati, Ohio by Craig Fox (guitar and vocals), Jack Lawrence (bass guitar), Patrick Keeler (drums), Brian Olive (guitar), and Jared McKinney (keyboards). The group relocated to Detroit and released two albums in their original incarnation, Gun for You (1999) and The Greenhornes (2001). Brian Olive left the band to join Soledad Brothers before the second album was released, and Jared McKinney also departed the following year; Olive was replaced by guitarist and vocalist Eric Stein. This line-up of the Greenhornes released an album called Dual Mono in 2002. Eric Stein left in 2002 to join the Griefs, leaving the three core members – Craig Fox, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler – by 2003.
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Soledad Brothers was formed in 1998 in Maumee, Ohio. The name is taken from a trio of former members of the Black Panther Party who became known as the Soledad Brothers; they had been convicted of killing a white prison guard in Soledad Prison in California in January 1970. Efforts by a number of celebrities eventually resulted in acquittal during a new trial in March 1972, though George Jackson had previously been killed during a prison uprising in 1971, and the other two are evidently still incarcerated.
Soledad Brothers (band) grew out of a punk blues band called Henry and June, which was active from 1994 to 1996. This name is evidently a reference to American writer Henry Miller and his wife, June Miller – or more likely, an erotic film featuring the couple called Henry & June that is based on a book of the same name, Henry and June by the famed French diarist Anaïs Nin.
Johnny Wirick met Benjamin Smith when he joined Henry and June where Smith was already the drummer. They later formed a two-piece band called Johnny Walker; Wirick then took the name Johnny Walker as an alias, while Smith began calling himself Ben Swank. In 1998, they started using the name Soledad Brothers.
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Soledad Brothers released two singles for Italy Records and Estrus Records in 1998 and 1999, plus a self-produced album in 1998 called Master Supertone having a truly tiny release (just 20 copies were pressed). Jack White had produced the band’s second single, “The Gospel According to John”, and its success led to the album Soledad Brothers that came out on Estrus Records in 2000. The other half of the White Stripes, Meg White contributed some percussion to the album also. Besides their shared passion for blues rock, there were also personal reasons that led to this collaboration. Jack White and Ben Swank had previously been roommates, and Johnny Walker played slide guitar on two tracks on the band’s debut album, The White Stripes (1999): “Suzy Lee” and “I Fought Piranhas”. Walker is also credited with teaching Jack White how to play slide guitar.
A second Soledad Brothers album on Estrus Records followed in 2002, Steal Your Soul And Dare Your Spirit To Move.
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Brian Olive, who was then in the Greenhornes, was recruited by Soledad Brothers shortly before the release of their second album, Steal Your Soul And Dare Your Spirit To Move. In keeping with the stage names being used by the other two bandmembers in Soledad Brothers, Olive took the name Oliver Henry (“O. Henry”) during his time with the band. Additionally, Brian Olive and Meg White had a long-term relationship in this time period.
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I have the last two albums by Soledad Brothers: Voice of Treason (2004) on Sanctuary Records and The Hardest Walk (2006) on Alive Records. The Alive CD has an enlargement of their drumhead on the back cover, with the band name, the Black Panther Party logo (a panther naturally), and a slogan in Latin: “Libertas Unitas Fraternitas”. The meaning is “Liberty, Unity, Brotherhood” and is similar to the slogan of the French Revolution – Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) – that remains the National Motto of France.
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Each Soledad Brothers album is more inventive and satisfying than the one before. Both of those that I have are excellent albums; “Downtown Paranoia Blues” from the most recent album was an instant favorite. Oliver Henry (Brian Olive) is credited on The Hardest Walk with fuzz piano, tenor and baritone sax, vocals, guitars, percussion, acoustic piano, flutes, and organ. Sadly, Soledad Brothers broke up within weeks of the release of The Hardest Walk.
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Brian Olive regained his name and sought to be in a band where he was the one calling the shots; that normally means a solo career. His debut album, Brian Olive came out in 2009 on Alive Records (the same label as the last album by Soledad Brothers).
(February 2015)
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Items: Soledad Brothers
